Animal Crossing New Horizons 2.0 Update: How to Buy and Use the Pro Decorating License

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update is big enough to be a new game, but you won’t be able to access some of the update’s best new features until you’ve unlocked the new pro decorating license.

A pro decorating license is basically your passport to some of ACNH‘s various new interior decoration options. While it won’t grant you access to every new decoration feature included in the update or all of the exterior design options that are coming to the game (some of those features will be added via the upcoming Happy Home Paradise DLC and some are unlocked elsewhere), you will need a decorating license if you’re hoping to hang items from your ceiling or play with the game’s new accent wall features.

You will also need a pro decorating license to purchase certain items from the game’s various shops. While most of those new items seem to be related to the interior decoration features this license unlocks, it’s interesting to see that you’re not able to even acquire these items until you’ve snagged the permit. It’s really all the more reason to go ahead and grab one as soon as you can.

Thankfully, buying a pro decorating license is a pretty painless task. First, head over to the Resident Services building where Isabelle and Tom Nook are stationed. Access the nearby Nook Stop terminal, and select the Nook Miles option to find all of the items available to purchase in exchange for your excess miles. If you’ve installed the 2.0 update, you should find that the pro decorating license is now available via this menu for 2,500 Nook Miles. It seems that the game treats this license like a DIY recipe, so you will need to “learn” the license before you’re actually able to use it.

Once you have the license, you’ll be able to acquire accent walls from various stores, random gifts, and perhaps some secret vendors that haven’t been discovered yet. The point is that these items are identified as “walls” rather than “wallpaper,” so be sure to keep an eye out for that distinction if you’re looking for your new options.

After acquiring an accent wall, you’ll be able to place it in your home by opening the “room editor” feature and then selecting the “wall” layer. Select the accent wall item that is hopefully in your pocket and choose the “set accent wall” option if you want to place it in that room. It’s actually possible to put wallpaper over an accent wall, so the decoration options this new feature allows for are quite…overwhelming.

Your new license also lets you hang certain items from your ceilings, which is fortunately just as easy as setting an accent wall. You’ll first need to acquire a hanging item (which can again be acquired from all the usual places) and then open the room editor feature while you’re in your home. From there, you just need to select the ceiling layer and then choose to place whatever hanging items may be in your inventory.

We haven’t discovered any other uses for the pro decorating license beyond those two new interior design options, but if it turns out that this new item is somehow even more valuable than it initially seems, we will be sure to let you know.